Capping off a week of performances that brought their jazz,
new music, and Baroque ensembles to four of New York City’s prized venues, the
Oberlin Conservatory of Music imported its prestigious orchestra to Carnegie
Hall for a varied program that included contributions from two of the school’s
most famous alumni, pianist Jeremy Denk and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer
Christopher Rouse.
Conductor Raphael Jiménez was wise to showcase the divergent
talents of his ensemble on the program’s first half, programming both the high
camp of Ravel’s La Valse and the
Viennese delicacy of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21. After a tentative and
shadowy opening in the Ravel, the orchestra’s rich colors slowly began to
emerge, led by a glossy violin section that displayed impeccable intonation that
endured even as the composer continued to process his stately waltz through the
fractured machine of a postwar Cubist landscape.
Denk was superb throughout the Mozart, fleetingly moving
across the expanse of the keyboard with incredible precision and accuracy. More
importantly, Denk made sure to keep the forward motion of the phrasing intact,
aggressively picking up the pace when the orchestra began to lag behind during
the first and third movements. The famous theme of the central Andante was gracefully introduced by the
first violins, delivering a set of robust colors before handing the material over
to the soloist’s right hand.
After 24 years, Christopher Rouse’s Iscariot received its New York premiere—a highly static work
loosely based on a pattern of alternating strophes and antistrophes found in
the ancient Greek dramatic tradition. Despite some incredible playing from the
duo percussionists and accompanying celesta player, however, the work was
essentially an exercise in white noise, with all of the recurring strophes
relying on stacked harmonies that slowly evolved through individual voicing changes in the
string section. On a program filled with effortlessly melody and motion, Iscariot felt like a chasm of sound that
couldn’t be easily traversed.
Thankfully, Stravinsky’s 1919 suite from The Firebird brought the evening to a ferocious close. Jiménez
admirably extracted the bourgeoning composer’s varied orchestration, showcasing
Stravinsky’s affinity for both the French impressionist style in the Firebird’s
arrival and dance, as well as the Russian folk music of the princess’s round
dance and glorious finale.
The principal winds were the standout players of the
evening, with flutist Helen Park, clarinetist Zachary Good, and piccoloist
Julia McGehee giving a stunning account of the dance’s fiendishly serpentine
flutters, while bassoonist Sean Gordon’s rich and plaintive sound gave life to
the exotic chant of the "Berceuse."
Given the nearly sold-out crowd that packed Carnegie Hall
and the thunderous applause the orchestra met after each piece, it’s clear that
Jiménez and his ensemble made fine ambassadors for their institution, showing
the New York City conservatories that there is definitely some domestic
competition when it comes to outstanding college bands.